This essay attempts to identify the concept of “common taste in tea-drinking and Zen” in the evolution of Chinese Tiantai Sect and Zen from tea.Chinese Tiantai Sect believes the peace in mind to be the foundation of wisdom, and uses tea-drinking as a way of cultivating calm observations, managing five chores and inducing Samadhi. The cult of tea-offering to Arhats started in Tiantai Mountain, which is also the birthplace of Chinese Tiantai Sect; Kuo-ching Temple of Tiantai Mountain is regarded as the origin by the Japanese and Korean Tiantai Sects.In poems from China, Japan and Korea there are many examples about the cult of tea-offering to Arhats, citing the divine phenomenon of words appearing in tea broth.To explore the relationship between Tiantai Sect and the Tea Zen, this essay is composed of five sections:Section One reviews the origin of Tea Zen and discusses the concept of “common taste in tea-drinking and Zen”, as well as the concept of”Dien Cha Samadhi”;Section Two reviews anecdotes of Tiantai Tea Zen to explore the connection between the Tiantai Sect and the Tea Zen;Section Three exemplifies Tiantai Tea Zen through poems by scholars and Zen masters from Tang Dynasty and Sung Dynasty;Section Four discusses the influence of Tiantai Tea Zen to Japan and Korea;Section Five concludes the essay.
